If This Van's a-Rockin', It's Probably Broken

Today was a big day.  Brian showed up around 8:30 with a stack of cash to finance my van shopping adventure.  The van was advertised for $5500 so that's what he brought.  He got it out of his own account and I wrote him a check when he got here.  He better hope I'm good for it.

It's all about the Benjamins

At 10:00, Julie showed up with her fiance, David, and his son, Justin, to take me all the way out to Asheboro to see the van.  I was surprised I was able to find somebody to do that on such short notice, and I was REALLY surprised that I was able to find enough people to actually buy the van and drive it home.  I only saw the ad at 7:30 last night, and it turns out Gus, Cullen, Caitlin, Mike, and Sue are all out of town this weekend.  Titus and Brittany were busy.  Ben was busy.  Brian and Kelly have too many kids.  Jessica can't drive.  Julie was really my last hope.

So we hit the road from my apartment around 10:15 and arrived in Asheboro around 11:30.  We met up with my contact, Barry, who led us to the van.  He took us to the home of an 80-year-old lawyer and Episcopal minister named John, whose wife just passed away.  John initially showed us the main features, but seemed irritated to answer any questions about the van.

The van is a Dodge, so I feared the worst, and it's true that the paint is peeling pretty badly in spots, but Dodges from the 90's do that so it wasn't unexpected. The driver side power window is broken, and the right front tire is a little bald.  It may have an alignment problem like my parents' old Caravan, but I probably won't put enough miles on it to notice.

John let David take me out for a test drive, and I had to rely on David's analysis, but we couldn't find anything wrong mechanically.  The transmission seemed to work fine, the brakes felt great, the suspension felt fine, and the AC worked.  There wasn't any pulsation, and it tracked straight when you let go of the wheel.  Under the hood, there was a little oil on the valve cover, but it's a Dodge.  I'd be suspicious if there WASN'T any oil under the hood.

I'm pretty sure I can get Titus to fix the window, and get me a pair of front tires for cheap, so I offered John $5000.  He said $5200 and we shook hands.  That's about half what I was expecting to pay for a wheelchair van.  It's a little older than I'd prefer, but it only has 116k miles on the ticker, and it looks like it's been very well maintained.

Once we agreed on a price, John was really very friendly.  We sat inside with him for a while doing the paperwork, and then left to go get lunch in town.  We weren't able to park in town because of a classic car show that was going on, but while we were there, John chased us down in his Honda to give us the spare key fob he had.  Nice guy.

I was giddy on the way home about my purchase.  I think it's going to be perfect for me, especially once I get the nit-pick items fixed.  Julie drove me home, and I had her check all the bells and whistles.  Everything seems to work great.  The ramp also seems to work fine, and the tie-downs are adequate.  I may need to find a better way to attach them to my chair though.  I probably also ought to come up with a seatbelt solution.  Right now there isn't one.

A new van owner

When I got home, I posed for a picture with my new ride.

I need to get some sweet rims

This van should mean more freedom.  I'll be able to leave the apartment complex much more easily, and anybody who wants to take me to a doctor's appointment can now do so regardless of what sort of vehicle they own.  That opens up a lot of opportunities for me.  All that's left to do now is to register it.  Anybody want to go to the DMV for me?  :-)